Diabetes-Team

Type 1 Diabetes

The type 1 diabetes is one that the patient cannot properly produce enough insulin to regulate the blood sugar in the body. Therefore, a patient having this disease needs a regular insulin injection to prevent the blood sugar from shooting up to dangerous levels. Other terms for type 1 diabetes include insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and juvenile diabetes because this type frequently starts during childhood. Once a patient is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, he or she is dependent on insulin shots for survival for the rest of his or her life to avoid the risks.

What Happens To People with Type 1 Diabetes?

In people with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, the pancreatic cells that are responsible for insulin production are destroyed by the body itself. The resulting lack of insulin renders the blood sugar useless for cellular respiration process, and they accumulate in the body and wasted as urine. The high blood sugar in the blood itself causes all sorts of complication such as sight damage. When the body cannot use the blood sugar for energy, the fat and the muscle cells are sacrificed for energy production which process cause serious complication known as diabetic ketoacidosis.

The signs of diabetic ketoacidosis include nausea, flushed, hot dry skin, fruity breath odor, rapid, deep breathing, vomiting, and confusion. If the patient is not given doctor’s attention at once, he or she could go into coma and die.

Avoiding Type 1 Diabetes Complications

If you have type 1 diabetes, you have to condition yourself to be vigilant about your health because diabetes complications can kill. Condition your mind to carry enough insulin wherever you go because missing your insulin shot when you needed could prove fatal. Juvenile diabetes, however, is especially challenging among young children who cannot be responsible enough at a young age to always carry their insulin. In this case, the parents have the greatest responsibility to inculcate in their children the importance of their insulin, and carry their insulin for them if needed.

Type 1 diabetes patients, too, should be responsible about their diet. However careful they are about carrying their insulin, but if they are not careful about what they eat, diabetes complications are still bound to occur sooner. In fact, if diabetics are just careful enough about what they eat, the probability of complications to occur is greatly reduced. There are even diabetics’ diets proven to lower blood sugar and help the body produce natural insulin.

The importance of regular exercise cannot be stressed enough to avoid the diabetes complications. It’s important for diabetics to control their blood pressure and cholesterol because they can’t afford to mix these risks of heart attack to their diabetes. The risk of developing heart attack is just too high if you have type 1 diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol. And regular exercise can help you control your blood pressure and bad cholesterol.

Other important diabetes complications prevention is the elimination of risk factors such as smoking, weight, sedentary lifestyle, and stress. People with type 1 diabetes should stop smoking, start eating healthy, and develop a lifestyle that encourage movement like playing sports or hiking. Stress management, too, is very crucial to diabetics because stress can cause body hormones including insulin to go haywire. That’s why mind and body exercise such as yoga are good for diabetics.

And religiously following your appointment to your doctors is very good to catch early signs of type 1 diabetes complications such as vision loss, kidney damage, nerve damage, and heart disease. Go to your doctor regularly to counter whatever signs of complications you may have. Moreover, you may need a readjustment of your type 1 diabetes medication, which could only be determined through regular checkup.

Always consult your doctor before using this information.

This Article is nutritional in nature and is not to be construed as medical advice.